


Stay Till the AM

by areyoutherelarry



Series: Post-Zayn Leaving Ziam [1]
Category: One Direction (Band)
Genre: Frottage, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-06
Updated: 2016-03-06
Packaged: 2018-05-25 03:19:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,501
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6178192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/areyoutherelarry/pseuds/areyoutherelarry
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Zayn sends Liam a clip of his new song to get his opinion and maybe to convince him to stay till the AM.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Stay Till the AM

            Zayn would never admit that he’s slightly nervous to see Liam. It’s been far too long and Zayn’s a little worried that it won’t be the same. He knows that the other boys aren’t happy; sure, they don’t say it in interviews, but he knows them. He knows that they feel betrayed and probably a little bit angry. Zayn wonders if they miss him like he misses them.

            It’s not that they were, in recent years, an overly chatty band. They all had their own friends and when they went home the texts were always few and far between, but it’d been hard when the radio silence punched him in the face.

            He can’t be mad at them though, sometimes when he drinks too much he tries to, but he can’t. He loves them and his heart feels a little bit broken without them. He’ll see a silly post online and he’ll want to show Niall or he’ll read this awesome article or book and he’ll want to share his copy with Harry or he’ll smoke some really good weed and he’ll want to share it with Louis or he’ll be writing and he’ll want Liam’s opinion. That’s when he finally gave in; he’d been going over the lyrics and he wanted Liam to read them over, change them a bit. He stopped himself for about three days before he sent it in an email with the message:

            _Hope all is well. Give this a listen, yeah?_

            He’d gotten a phone call in return. He’d been sitting on the floor of his studio with a can of spray-paint in his lap when his phone had jumped from where it was precariously balancing on a stool. Leeymo Payno had pulsed onto the screen. His hand had shook a little when he’d slid his thumb across the screen to unlock it.

            “Hullo?” Zayn asks and he’s a little irritated that his voice goes soft with uncertainty instead of gruff with indifference.

            “An email, Zee, really?” Liam greets, his voice cheerful but a little perturbed.

            “I didn’t want to bother you.”

            “You’re never bothering me; I’ve told you that.”

            “Plus it was easier that way, what with the file and all. It’s not like I’m scared.”

            Liam laughs, it’s loud and bright with a hint of pented-up annoyance, “Never said you were, you brought that all on yourself. Little telling, isn’t it?”

            Zayn rubs his shin where the wolf tattoo rests and it doesn’t bring him into a deeper connection with Liam even though his heart pretends like it will because his heart knows the reason he got that tattoo: to represent Liam who has always been loyal and his protector.

            “Zee, are you still there?” Liam asks after a few too many moments of silence.

            “Yeah, yeah, I’m still here,” Zayn confesses sheepishly.

            “I miss you,” Liam admits because he knows Zayn can’t/won’t say it first and Zayn doesn’t hear the pleading, like the first few voicemails on his phone. Liam has fallen into resignation, and that upsets Zayn a little bit more than it should.

            “I miss you too,” Zayn responds and it used to be this row-inducing phrase but now he just hears Liam breathe heavily. He knows he wants to say something to berate him for leaving but he also wants to know what Zayn’s real intention was in sending him the music clip.

            “The clip is nice Zayn, it sounds like those songs that you used to sing to warm-up. It sounds like you, if that makes sense. It’s beautiful and edgy and sensual. You sound amazing singing it.”

            “Thanks, Liam,” Zayn whispers sheepishly because the amount of relief and pride that zings through his body is overwhelming.

            “So why’d you send it?”

            “I told you I, like, wanted your opinion.”

            “Yeah, but why?”

            “Because you’re, like, amazing with songs Liam.”

            “I’m not really, but I could help you mix it,” Liam offers softly, uncertainly.

            “You’d do that?”

            “Yeah, we’re on break, I can do whatever I want; I could fly to LA and help you mix it. I know I’m not a professional or anything but I’d like to help out. You never really wrote with me, but I think it’d be fun, ya know?”

            “I do.”

            “So is that a yes?”

            “Yeah, man, Liam. I’d love your help.”

            “It’ll have to be after the New Year, but I’d love to come out and see you.”

            “I’d like that.”

            “Cool, I’ll see you then I guess.”

            “Yeah, see you then.”

           

            Zayn fidgets in the studio that he has for their session. He decided that more neutral ground would be better for him. Jawaad is tapping incessantly on his phone, spinning in a chair a few feet away. He needs the back-up desperately, not that Jawaad is paying any attention, though Zayn does think that he knows the significance of this meeting.

            Liam raps his knuckles on the doorframe and Zayn bounces out of his skin. When the hell has Liam ever knocked before, but he guesses they were always on even footing there and now they’re not. Zayn isn’t sure how he feels about that. He opens the door and Liam’s standing there, grinning. Zayn can feel the smile stretch across his mouth and he wants to berate himself for acting so childlike but it’s Liam. Liam’s face is scruffy and his head is mostly covered by his beanie. He’s wearing an Adidas hoodie and black skinnies. He raises his eyebrows at Zayn, almost like a challenge.

            “Well, come on then,” he commands as he opens his arms to Zayn. Zayn steps into the embrace because it would be ridiculous not to and he misses it. He gingerly holds onto Liam’s sides and barely lets his body graze Liam’s until Liam huffs into his neck, sighing exasperatedly, “I said come on then.”

            Zayn gives into the pressure and leans against Liam’s body his arms going tightly around Liam so that he is clasping his own wrist behind Liam’s back.

            “You smell the same,” Zayn comments curiously.

            “I like this cologne.”

            “But I thought you were trying on different colognes that’s what you said,” And then Zayn realizes he’s admitting that he was listening to Liam and Niall’s interview with Ryan Seacrest.

            “Keeping tabs on us?” Liam teases.

            “Maybe.”

            “I guess the creeping is mutual then,” Liam laughs and they finally pull apart. Zayn wants to ask him about that light-hearted remark, but he thinks it’ll be considered desperate or ridiculous.

            “It’s good to see you,” Liam declares earnestly, and Zayn wants to do nothing more than hug him again or punch him square in the jaw depending on what part of himself he lets win over control of his body. He goes with turning abruptly and walking to the couch where he’s set down his writing notebook. It’s more doodles than words, but Zayn gets lyrics from those as well. Liam sits down gingerly on the corner of the couch and it’s the first real time that Liam has shown any hesitation in his movements.

            At first the conversation is stilted and awkward, and Zayn truly wonders why he ever thought this could work. But then they actually start listening to the album, and after a few moments it seems that Liam forgets that there’s this elephant in the room between them and just listens. He makes comments here and there, and they’re quite brilliant. And it isn’t that Zayn doesn’t think that Liam is brilliant, it’s just he didn’t think he’d put half the effort into Zayn’s stuff as he does for his own. The album ends and while Liam hasn’t ripped the songs to absolute shreds, he also hasn’t really touted about how much he likes them either. Zayn wants to ask him what he really thinks, when Liam’s head rolls to the back of the couch.

            “I get it,” he sighs.

            “Get what?” Zayn asks incredulously.

            “Don’t make me say it.”

            “Say what?” Zayn asks desperately.

            “Zee please,” Liam begs, and then it clicks. Liam gets why he left. Why he had to make the decision to leave four of the best friends he’s ever had, knowing the way they would react, knowing that Louis would probably never speak to him again.

            “I’m still sorry, though,” Zayn whispers.

            “I know, babe, I know.”

            They sit there in the stark silence for a minute and Zayn’s throat feels clogged and he can feel the tears pricking the back of his eyes. He now wishes Jaawad wasn’t around because he just wants to push into Liam’s space, invade his security and warmth. He needs it.

            “I should be going,” Liam reveals finally.

            “Come to mine,” Zayn demands and he’s not sure where this bravado comes from, but he doesn’t really want it, the bravado that is. He does want Liam to come over though, begrudgingly.

            Liam’s eyes squint, “Are you sure?”

            “Yeah, I’m sure,” Zayn promises and he can see Jaawad shake his head but he can’t stop himself. He can’t stop himself from falling into Liam’s easy grin and crinkled eyes. He knows his heart would be safer if he resisted, but his heart has never really obeyed reason.

            “I’ll get some clothes from my hotel be over in a while, yeah?”

            “Yeah,” Zayn whispers and he can already feel himself losing his bravado.

            Liam hugs him good-bye like he won’t see him in a few hours but it will be another few excruciating months. Zayn grips the back of his sweatshirt and breathes into Liam’s neck taking in the scent that was always home to him when they were on the road. It was his home away from home.

            When Zayn leaves the studio, he stops to buy a few groceries, a little bit of food to have out when Liam comes over. He tidies up a little bit, not that he thinks Liam will really mind. He knows he wouldn’t mind any clutter that Liam had at his house, but it’s still this eternal need to please Liam.

            Liam’s not wearing his skinnies anymore, instead he’s got on a pair of trackies. He has a gym bag slung across his body, and he grins sheepishly, “I hope this is what you meant when you said come over.”

            “It is,” Zayn responds with a light laugh. He feels relief rush through him because he was wondering if Liam would figure it out. That he wanted Liam to lie next to him, like they had so many times on tour. Zayn had even gotten dependent on it; it was one of the reasons he waited so long to leave because he knew that without Liam, sleep would elude him.

            “Netflix and chill?” Liam asks, and his sincerity makes Zayn think that he has no idea about the connotation that that particular saying has now. He remembers when they’d been touring how he would miss whole fads because they barely had time to breathe, much less troll the internet for weird ass shit.

            “Sure, love.”

            “ _Ironman_?”

            “I was going to say _The Dark Knight_.”

            “Whatever you want, babe, is good with me.”

            “I haven’t seen a Batman film in, like, a while, so let’s watch _The Dark Knight._ ”

            “All right,” Liam agrees amicably.

            Before Zayn left the band, they would’ve immediately cuddled on the couch, but Zayn doesn’t know if that will be okay with Liam anymore.        Liam sits on the end of the couch and Zayn sits with his back against the opposite side’s arm. He pulls his knees up closer to his body and starts the movie.

            Once the movie is approaching the most interesting part and Liam is enthralled with the plot, Zayn allows himself to glance at Liam. His face is rounder than the last time Zayn saw him and it makes him grin. He knows that he’s enjoying himself, allowing himself to eat what he wants and only working out a few times a week. Zayn would always get nervous when Liam would get thin because it usually meant he wasn’t feeling good about himself, wasn’t eating enough food, and was working out too much. Zayn looks back at the TV and watches as the climax approaches. When the movie is over, Liam looks over at him like now what? Zayn flicks to _Friends_ and Liam grins happily. Zayn’s legs stretch out on their own as he relaxes. Liam grabs Zayn’s feet and rubs circles on Zayn’s anklebones. After an episode, Liam tugs lightly on Zayn’s legs.

            “What’re you doing?” Zayn asks lightly.

            “Come here, babe.”

            Zayn laughs but cuddles up to Liam. Liam runs his hand up and down Zayn’s back and Zayn finds himself falling asleep against Liam’s chest. He comes to when lips press against his forehead, and Liam’s talking about going to bed. Zayn agrees and bleary-eyed leads Liam upstairs to his bedroom.

            Liam strips to his boxer-briefs and stands in the middle of Zayn’s bedroom. Zayn crawls under the covers when he’s in his pants and beckons Liam to crawl in next to him. Zayn curls into Liam’s side again.

            “What are we doing, Zee?”

            “Cuddling like we used to.”

            “We used to do a lot of other things too.”

            “I know.”

            “So…”

            “So I’m not opposed to doing those things again,” Zayn murmurs.

            “Zee,” Liam sighs.

            “Come on, love, I’ve missed you, missed us.”

            “Fuck,” Liam heaves as he rolls them, so he pins Zayn against the mattress, “I hoped that you’d want this. I missed us too.”

            Liam kisses him fiercely and Zayn reaches for Liam’s face to pull him deeper into the kiss. Liam scrambles to pull Zayn up and meld their bodies closer together. Zayn scrambles to kneel in front of Liam. Liam drags Zayn’s leg over his hip, and presses his erection into Zayn’s thigh as Zayn’s erection presses into Liam’s thigh.

            “Fuck,” Zayn moans and nips at the spot right below Liam’s jaw.

            The friction of Zayn’s boxer-briefs against his cock isn’t all that appealing; in fact, it’s almost un-sexily painful, but it’s Liam. It’s Liam. They move against each other quickly and roughly. Zayn digs his face into Liam’s neck and whimpers when he comes. Liam falls backwards and drags Zayn with him.

            “This is gross,” Zayn complains.

            “What’s gross?”

            “My pants sticking to my skin like this.”

            “We could take a shower and then sleep naked.”

            “You’ve always loved sleeping naked.”

            “It’s true and I love sleeping naked with you.”

            “You’re ridiculous,” Zayn laughs, “Shit, I’ve missed you so much Liam, I don’t think you understand.”

            “I’ve missed you too, babe. The last couple of months of touring were hard without you around. I don’t expect you to say sorry again. I don’t want you to feel guilty anymore, but it’s so true. You were my rock.”

            “You were mine too. Still are. I’m glad you came, Liam. I hope you’ll stay for awhile.”

            “I might miss you too much if I leave.”

            “Then don’t. Stay for awhile.”

**Author's Note:**

> I would love any and all feedback.


End file.
